FMP- Set Makers & Techniques

To make my sets, to make them atmospheric and seem like the worlds i am trying to create could really exist; i’d like to research other people who create sets, be that for stop motion, films or theatre because no matter what type of set is being created it all has the same goal- to allow the story being told to develop an environment around it that the audience can feel enveloped by.

I first have turned to youtube, looking at set builders instructional videos and talks and below are some that i found really useful:

This one talks about Bunny Christie and her approach to set design, how she responds to the script she is given and looks for themes within the script. she then does copious amounts of indepth research looking for specific objects and plants/types of brickwork and even the costumes of potential characters that might be worn on her set. Whilst doing all of this research on the particular time period, she wants to make it relevant and relate-able to today as well, she wants the designs to represent the characters emotional journey. She creates life size sets for theatres, but makes miniature models first and these i find really interesting and are very detailed. She also talks about side lighting, that creates a glowy environment that doesnt pick up too much detail which i think might be useful for me.

I am quite gutted that this one was an advertisement to buy the full online course in stop motion set creation, but at the same time i am tempted to purchase it because it showed how to build a set without any sides to it which i am struggling with at the moment because i don;t know how to keep my structures from falling over if there is no support in place!

This next one addresses the idea of creating a set aimed at children- for Beauty and the Beast on stage in 2010 and this one is really interesting! it describes designing fairytales as very liberating and up for grabs, and don’t cause you to feel as constrained as you would in designing a set aimed at adults. Vicki Mortimer is a set designer i will be looking at in more detail:

this below is a video showing a paper set made of the Wicked – stage set, its so intricate!